User:Skipple/sandbox
Closed source | |
Initial release | 1.0 / November 19, 2006 |
---|---|
Latest release | 4.3 / September 7, 2010[1] |
Available in |
|
Update method | Direct download Game disc |
Platforms | Wii, Wii U |
Succeeded by | Wii U system software |
The Wii system software is a discontinued updatable firmware and software frontend on the Wii home video game console. The graphical user interface featured four pages, each with a 4:3 grid, and each displaying the current time and date. Users can launch applications, known as channels, from this user interface.
Updates to the Wii system software could be downloaded over the Internet or read from a game disc. This allowed Nintendo to add additional features and software updates, additional channels, as well as to patch security vulnerabilities used by users to load homebrew software. When a new update became available, Nintendo sent a message to the Wii Message Board of Internet-connected systems notifying them of the available update. Additional optional applications, could be downloaded from the Wii Shop Channel.
Most game discs, including first-party and third-party games, include system software updates[2][3] so that systems that are not connected to the Internet can still receive updates. The system menu will not start such games if their updates have not been installed, so this has the consequence of forcing users to install updates in order to play these games.[2]
Technology
IOS
The Wii's firmware has many active branches known as IOSes, thought by the
Except for
When the software is run, the IOS that is hardcoded gets loaded by the Wii, which then loads the software itself. If that IOS does not exist on the Wii, in the case of disc-based software, it gets installed automatically (after the user is prompted). With downloaded software, this should not theoretically happen, as the user cannot access the shop to download software unless the player has all the IOS versions that they require. However, if homebrew is used to forcefully install or run a piece of software when the required IOS does not exist, the user is brought back to the system menu.
Nintendo created this system so that new updates would not unintentionally break compatibility with older games, but it does have the side effect that it uses up space on the Wii's internal NAND Flash memory. IOSes are referred to by their number, which can theoretically be between 3 and 255, although many numbers are skipped, presumably being development versions that were never completed.
Only one IOS version can run at any given time. The only time an IOS is not running is when the Wii enters GameCube
User interface
The system provides a graphical interface to the Wii's abilities. All games run directly on the Broadway processor, and either directly interface with the hardware (for the hardware common to the
The Wii Menu (known internally as the System Menu) is the name of the
Network features
The Wii system supports
Like many other video game consoles, the Wii console is able to connect to the Internet, although this is not required for the Wii system itself to function. Each Wii has its own unique 16-digit Wii Code for use with Wii's non-game features. With Internet connection enabled users are able to access the established Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service. Wireless encryption by WEP, WPA (TKIP/RC4) and WPA2 (CCMP/AES) is supported.[15] AOSS support was added in System Menu version 3.0.[16] As with the Nintendo DS, Nintendo does not charge for playing via the service;[17][18] the 12-digit Friend Code system controls how players connect to one another. The service has a few features for the console, including the Virtual Console, WiiConnect24 and several Channels. The Wii console can also communicate and connect with other Wii systems through a self-generated wireless LAN, enabling local wireless multiplayer on different television sets. The system also implements console-based software, including the Wii Message Board. One can connect to the Internet with third-party devices as well.[19][20]
The Wii console also includes a
Backward compatibility
The original designs of the Nintendo Wii console, more specifically the Wii models made pre-2011 were fully
There are also a few limitations in the backward compatibility. For example, online and LAN features of certain GameCube games were not available since the Wii does not have serial ports for the
Because of the original device's backward compatibility with earlier Nintendo products players can enjoy a massive selection of older games on the console in addition to hundreds of newer Wii game titles. However, South Korean units lack GameCube backward compatibility.[26][27] Also, the redesigned Wii Family Edition and Wii Mini, launched in 2011 and 2013 respectively, had this compatibility stripped out.[26] Nevertheless, there is another service called Virtual Console which allow users to download older games from prior Nintendo platforms (namely the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super NES and Nintendo 64) onto their Wii console, as well as games from non-Nintendo platforms such as the Genesis and TurboGrafx-16.
History of updates
System version 1.0 was released on launch day, and was designed mainly for offline use, as connecting to the internet would trigger an update prompt to install 2.0.[28] For a while after that, the Wii received new features such as the Forecast Channel,[28] as well as bug fixes.[29]
Some of these updates also included fixes to block the early forms of homebrew, the first of which was an SSL issue in the Wii Shop Channel.[30] Later in 2007, Nintendo added code to block the GameCube Action Replay, although this update was bundled with several other features in the 3.0 update.
A week after Wii Freeloader released, Nintendo released an update containing a new IOS with the bug exploited by Freeloader fixed, although this new IOS was not used by the Wii Menu.[31] Later that year, Nintendo released a new Wii Menu that copied this fix to the IOS user by the Wii Menu. In addition, code was added to the Wii Menu to delete the primary homebrew entrypoint on every boot, although this code was very buggy and was easily bypassed.[32] Nintendo also patched the hole used to extract the private encryption keys of the Wii, and finally made a small change to the Mii Channel to convince people to update.[33]
Nintendo's next few updates made similar small changes to various channels, and one of them copied the fix for the previous IOS bug to every IOS, as well as a few other exploit fixes.[34] A few weeks later, Nintendo ported these new fixes to every IOS, made a failed attempt to block a specific homebrew IOS,[35] and made their second attempt at fixing the main homebrew entrypoint.[36] This attempt at stopping the homebrew entrypoint was then superseded by a successful attempt in 2009, along with other IOS fixes, and some features.[37]
Later that year, Nintendo released another homebrew-blocking update, but unlike the previous updates, it offered no new features; instead, it updated the Wii Shop Channel to require the new version.[38] In addition to fixing homebrew bugs, it aggressively checks for the Homebrew Channel and deletes it if it is present,[39] replaced several IOSes used by homebrew with nonfunctional versions,[38] and updated a bootloader to overwrite the one used by homebrew, unexpectedly causing many consoles to refuse to boot.[40] Two similar updates were then released throughout 2010, although the only attempts to stop Wii homebrew past that were in the Wii U's Wii Mode feature.
The final update delivered in PAL and American regions added support to transfer content to the Wii U. However, two updates were released in Japan past this point that only affected Dragon Quest X players, solely updating the IOS used by Dragon Quest X.
Channels
Available applications for the Wii, known as "channels", are displayed and can be navigated using the pointer capability of the Wii Remote. The grid is customizable; users can move channels (except for the Disc Channel) among the menu's 48 customizable slots by pressing and holding the B button while hovering over the channel the user wanted to move, then pressing and holding the A button and moving the channel. By pressing the plus and minus buttons on the Wii Remote users can scroll across accessing empty slots.
Pre-installed channels
Disc Channel
The Disc Channel is the primary way to play Wii and GameCube titles from supported Nintendo optical discs inserted into the console.
If no disc is inserted, the message "Please insert a disc." will be displayed along with images of a template Wii and GameCube disc (the latter is not visible on the
When a disc is inserted, the channel preview and banner on the menu will change to the one supplied by the title and the "Start" button will become available. If it is a GameCube disc, the banner and preview will change to the GameCube logo with the GameCube startup theme playing.
Each Wii game disc includes a system update partition, which includes the latest Wii software from the time the game was released. If a disc that is inserted contains newer software than the one installed on the console, installing the new software will be required to play the game. This allows users without an internet connection to still receive system updates. When loaded into the disc slot, an icon on the Disc Channel that says "Wii System Update" appears. After selecting the channel, the Wii will automatically update. If these updates are not installed, the game will remain unplayable until the update is installed, as each time the channel is loaded with the game inserted, the update prompt will appear, and declining the update will return the player to the Wii Menu instead of starting the game.
Games requiring a system update can still be played without updating using homebrew software, such as Gecko OS or a USB loader.
Mii Channel
The Mii Channel is an
A
In addition, Mii characters can be transferred from a user's Wii to Nintendo 3DS consoles, as well as supported Nintendo DS games via the Mii Channel. While in the channel, pressing A, followed by B, then 1, and holding 2 on the Wii Remote allows the user to unlock the feature.[43] The Mii Channel is succeeded by the Mii Maker app for both Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, and the Mii options in Settings for Nintendo Switch.
According to Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, over 160 million Mii characters had been created using the "Mii Channel" as of May 2010.[44]
Photo Channel
If a user inserts an
JPEG files can be up to 8192x8192 resolution and in baseline format.
Photo Channel 1.1
Photo Channel 1.1 is an optional update to the Photo Channel that became available on the Wii Shop Channel on December 10, 2007. It allows users to customize the Photo Channel icon on the Wii Menu with photos from an SD Card or the Wii Message Board. It also allows playback of songs in random order. The update replaced MP3 support with support for MPEG-4 encoded audio files encoded with
Wii owners who updated to version 1.1 can revert to version 1.0 by deleting it from the channels menu in the data management setup. Consoles released after December 10, 2007 come with the version 1.1 update pre-installed, and cannot be downgraded to version 1.0.
Owners of Japanese systems can download a "Revert to Photo Channel 1.0" Channel from the Wii Shop Channel if they wish to do so.
Wii Shop Channel
The Wii Shop Channel allowed users to download games and other software by redeeming
Nintendo discontinued the Wii Shop Channel on January 30, 2019 (having announced that they planned to do so on September 29, 2017), with the purchase of Wii Points ending on March 26, 2018.[51][52] The ability to redownload previously purchased content and/or transfer Wii data from the Wii to the Wii U still remains available.
Forecast Channel
The Forecast Channel allowed weather reports and forecasts to be shown on the console from the Internet via the WiiConnect24 service. The Forecast Channel displayed a view of the Earth as a globe (courtesy of NASA),[53] with which users can view weather in other regions. The user could also spin the globe. When fully zoomed out, an accurate[54] star map was visible in the background. (The Big Dipper and the constellation Orion were easily recognizable, for example.) The Forecast Channel features included the current forecast, the UV index, today's overall forecast, tomorrow's forecast, a 5-day forecast (only for the selected country in which the user lives), a laundry check (Japan Only) and pollen count (Japan only). The Forecast Channel first became available on December 19, 2006. Certain games like Madden NFL 07, Nights: Journey of Dreams, and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games could use the Forecast Channel to simulate weather conditions depending on the player's region.[55]
There are slight variations of Forecast Channel versions in different regions. When viewing weather conditions in Japan, a different set of weather icons is used. Additionally, the laundry index was only featured in the Japanese version.[56]
After the August 6, 2007 update, the Forecast Channel showed the icon for the current weather on the Wii Menu. Long neglect of this channel would result in the icon not appearing, although the set time was longer than that of the News Channel.
The Forecast Channel (along with the News Channel) was not available in South Korea.[57]
Like the four other Wii channels (News Channel, Everybody Votes Channel, Check Mii Out Channel/Mii Contest Channel, Nintendo Channel), the Forecast Channel ended its seven-year support on June 27, 2013.
News Channel
The News Channel allowed users to access news headlines and current news events obtained from the Internet.[58] News articles were available on a globe view, allowing users to view news from certain areas of the world (similar to the Forecast Channel), and as a slide show.[59] The content was automatically updated and viewable via WiiConnect24 with clickable news images supported. The channel contained seven categories: National News, International News, Sports, Arts/Entertainment, Business, Technology and Oddities.
The News Channel became available in North America, Europe, and Australia on January 26, 2007. Content was in a variety of languages provided by the
Starting with the August 6, 2007 update, the News Channel showed a news ticker in the Wii Menu, and when selecting the channel. However, not visiting the channel for a period of time resulted in the ticker not appearing, instead displaying "You must use the News Channel regularly for news to be displayed on this screen." on the preview screen until the channel was opened up. A December 20, 2007 PAL region update increased the number of news feeds to the channel, sourced from a larger number of news resources and agencies, providing more news that were available per country.[62]
The News Channel (along with the Forecast Channel) was not available in South Korea.[57]
Like the four other Wii channels (Forecast Channel, Everybody Votes Channel, Mii Contest Channel, Nintendo Channel), the News Channel ended its seven-year support on June 27, 2013.
Get Connected Video Channel
The Get Connected Video Channel or Wii & the Internet Channel (or alternatively known as the Wii + Internet Channel or Wii: See What You Can Do On the Internet) is pre-installed onto Wii console units manufactured in October 2008 or later. It contains an informational video specifying the benefits of connecting the Wii console to the Internet, such as downloading extra channels, new software, Virtual Console titles, and playing games over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.
The Get Connected Video Channel is the only pre-installed channel that takes up spare internal memory, and the only channel that can be manually deleted or moved to an
The same video presentation contained in the channel can also be viewed on an archived version of Nintendo's official website.[64] Furthermore, several gaming stores such as GameStop had this channel in their Wii stations.
The channel is also available in multiple languages. Unlike the other channels, the video in the channel is not translated digitally, but is presented in multiple dubs, which means there are multiple copies of the same video in a single channel. The language of the video is presented is respectively according to the Wii's language setting. Available languages are
in the PAL version. The availability of multiple dubs is a likely factor that contributes to the large size of the channel.Internet Channel
The Internet Channel is a version of the
The Internet Channel uses whichever connection is chosen in the Wii settings, and utilizes the user's internet connection directly; there is no third party network that traffic is being routed through. It receives a connection from a router/modem and uses a web browser to pull up HTTP and HTTPS (secure and encrypted) web pages. Opera, the Wii's web browser, is capable of rendering most web sites in the same manner as its desktop counterpart by using Opera's Medium Screen Rendering technology. For most Internet users, the Wii offers all of the functionality they need to perform the most common Internet tasks.
The software is saved to the Wii's 512 MB internal flash memory (it can be copied to an
to the Ethernet adapter.The Opera-based Wii browser allows users full access to the Internet and supports all the same web standards that are included in the desktop versions of Opera, including
Third party
Everybody Votes Channel
Everybody Votes Channel allowed users to vote in simple opinion polls and compare and contrast opinions with those of friends, family, and people across the globe.
Everybody Votes Channel was launched on February 13, 2007, and was available in the Wii Channels section of the Wii Shop Channel. The application allowed Wii owners to vote on various questions using their Mii as a registered voter. Additionally, voters were also able to make predictions for the choice that will be the most popular overall after their own vote has been cast. Each Mii's voting and prediction record is tracked and voters can also view how their opinions compare to others. Whether the Mii is correct in its predictions or not is displayed on a statistics page along with a counter of how many times that Mii has voted. Up to six Miis would be registered to vote on the console. The channel was free to download. Each player would make a suggestion for a poll a day.
Like the other four Wii channels (Forecast Channel, News Channel, Nintendo Channel, Check Mii Out Channel/Mii Contest Channel), the Everybody Votes Channel ended its seven-year support on June 27, 2013 due to Nintendo shifting its resources to its next generation projects. Unlike the other discontinued channels, Everybody Votes Channel remains accessible with users able to view the latest poll data posted, albeit the channel will never be updated again.
Check Mii Out Channel
The Check Mii Out Channel (also known as the Mii Contest Channel in Australia, Europe and Japan and Canal Miirame in Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America) was a channel that allowed players to share their Miis and enter them into popularity contests. It was first available on November 11, 2007. It was available free to download from the
Users would post their own Miis in the Posting Plaza, or import other user-submitted Miis to their own personal Mii Parade. Each submitted Mii was assigned a 12-digit entry number to aid in searching. Submitted Miis were given 2 initials by their creator and a notable skill/talent to aid in sorting.
In the Contests section, players submitted their own Miis to compete in contests to best fit a certain description (e.g. Mario without his cap). After the time period for sending a Mii had expired, the user had the choice of voting for three Miis featured on the judging panel, with ten random Miis being shown at a time. Once the judging period is over, the results of the contest may be viewed. Their selection and/or submission's popularity in comparison to others was displayed, as well as the winning Mii and user.
The Check Mii Out Channel sent messages to the Wii Message Board concerning recent contests. Participants in certain contests would add their user and submitted Mii to a photo with a background related to the contest theme. This picture would then be sent to the Wii Message Board.
This channel ended its seven-year support on June 27, 2013 like the four other channels (Forecast Channel, News Channel, Everybody Votes Channel, Nintendo Channel).
Nintendo Channel
The Nintendo Channel (also known as the Everybody's Nintendo Channel in Japan) allowed
An updated version of the Nintendo Channel was released in Japan on July 15, 2009,[87] North America on September 14, 2009, and in Europe on December 15, 2009.[88] The update introduced a new interface and additional features, options, and statistics for users to view. However, the European version was missing some of these new additional features, such as options for choosing video quality. In addition, a weekly show known as Nintendo Week began airing exclusively on the North American edition of the channel, while another show, Nintendo TV, was available on the UK version of the channel.[89]
The Nintendo Channel and the other 4 channels (Forecast Channel, News Channel, Everybody Votes Channel, and Check Mii Out Channel/Mii Contest Channel) ended their seven-year support on June 27, 2013.[90][91]
Downloadable channels
Downloadable Channels are Channels that can be bought from the Wii Shop Channel.
Virtual Console Channels
Virtual Console channels were channels that allowed users to play their downloaded Virtual Console games obtained from the Wii Shop Channel. The Virtual Console portion of the Wii Shop Channel specialized in older software originally designed and released for home entertainment platforms that are now defunct. These games were played on the Wii through the emulation of the older hardware. The prices were generally the same in almost every region and were determined primarily by the software's original platform. There was initially planned to be a Virtual Console channel where users could launch their Virtual Console games sorted by console, but this idea was dropped.
WiiWare Channels
Functioning similarly to the Virtual Console channels, WiiWare channels allowed users to use their WiiWare games obtained from the Wii Shop Channel. The WiiWare section specialized in downloadable software specifically designed for the Wii. The first WiiWare games were made available on March 25, 2008 in Japan.[92] WiiWare games launched in North America on May 12, 2008,[93] and launched in Europe and Australia on May 20, 2008.[94][95]
The WiiWare section was being touted as a forum to provide developers with small budgets to release smaller-scale games without the investment and risk of creating a title to be sold at retail (somewhat similar to the Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Store). While actual games have been planned to appear in this section since its inception, there had been no official word on when any would be appearing until June 27, 2007, when Nintendo made an official confirmation in a press release which revealed the first titles would surface sometime in 2008. According to Nintendo, "The remarkable motion controls will give birth to fresh takes on established genres, as well as original ideas that currently exist only in developers' minds."
Like Virtual Console games, WiiWare games were purchased using Wii Points. Nintendo handled all pricing options for the downloadable games.[96]
Television Friend Channel (Japan only)
The Television Friend Channel allowed Wii users to check what programs are on the television. Content was provided by Guide Plus. It was developed by HAL Laboratory. The channel had been said to be "very fun and Nintendo-esque".[97][98] A "stamp" feature allowed users to mark programs of interest with a Mii-themed stamp. If an e-mail address or mobile phone number would have been registered in the address book, the channel could send out an alert 30 minutes prior to the start of the selected program. The channel tracked the stamps of all Wii users and allowed users to rate programs on a five-star scale. Additionally, when the channel was active the Wii Remote could be used to change the TV's volume and channel so that users can tune into their shows by way of the channel.[99] The Television Friend Channel launched in Japan on March 4, 2008, and was discontinued on July 24, 2011 due to the shutdown of analog television broadcasts in Japan. It was never launched outside Japan, as most countries, unlike Japan, have a guide built into set-top boxes and/or TVs.[100] The Television Friend Channel was succeeded by the now-defunct Nintendo TVii, which was standardized for the Wii U console. It also had the Kirby 1-UP sound, since it was made by HAL Laboratory. This was later removed before the release of the channel.
Digicam Print Channel (Japan only)
The Digicam Print Channel was a channel developed in collaboration with Fujifilm that allowed users to import their digital photos from an SD card and place them into templates for printable photo books and business cards through a software wizard. The user was also able to place their Mii on a business card. The completed design would then be sent online to Fujifilm who printed and delivered the completed product to the user. The processing of individual photos was also available.
The Digicam Print Channel became available from July 23, 2008 in Japan, and ceased operation on June 26, 2013.[101]
Today and Tomorrow Channel
The Today and Tomorrow Channel[102] became available in Japan on December 2, 2008, and in Europe, Australia, and South Korea[103] on September 9, 2009. The channel was developed in collaboration with Media Kobo and allows users to view fortunes for up to six Miis across five categories: love, work, study, communications, and money. The channel also features a compatibility test that compares two Miis, and also gives out "lucky words" that must be interpreted by the user. The channel uses Mii birthdate data, but users must input a birth year when they are loaded onto the channel. This channel was never released in North America, and although it was discontinued on January 30, 2019 with the Wii Shop Channel discontinuation, it can still be redownloaded if obtained before the Wii Shop Channel's closure.
Wii no Ma (Japan only)
A video on-demand service channel was released in Japan on May 1, 2009. The channel was a joint venture between Nintendo and Japanese advertising agency Dentsu. The channel's interface was built around a virtual living room, where up to 8 Miis can be registered and interact with each other. The virtual living room contained a TV which took the viewer to the video list. Celebrity "concierge" Miis occasionally introduced special programming. Nintendo ceased operations of Wii no Ma on April 30, 2012.
Demae Channel (Japan only)
A food delivery service channel was released in Japan on May 26, 2009.[104] The channel was a joint venture between Nintendo and the Japanese on-line food delivery portal service Demae-can, and was developed by Denyu-sha. The channel offered a wide range of foods provided by different food delivery companies which can be ordered directly through the Wii channel. A note was posted to the Wii Message Board containing what had been ordered and the total price. The food was then delivered to the address the Wii user has registered on the channel. On February 22, 2017, Demae Channel was delisted from the Wii Shop Channel, it was later discontinued alongside the Wii U version on March 31, 2017.[105]
BBC iPlayer Channel (UK only)
Wii access to the BBC iPlayer was interrupted on April 9, 2008, when an update to the Opera Browser turned out to be incompatible with the BBC iPlayer. The BBC chose not to make the BBC iPlayer compatible with the upgrade. This was resolved on November 18, 2009 when they released the BBC iPlayer Channel, allowing easier access to the BBC iPlayer.
The BBC had since offered a free, dedicated Wii channel version of their BBC iPlayer application[106] which was only available in the UK. By February 10, 2015, however, the channel was retired and consequently removed from Wii Shop Channel since newer versions are not compatible, and as per BBC's policy to retire older versions as a resource management.[107] The channel had since been succeeded by the BBC iPlayer app on the UK edition of the Wii U eShop, which was released in May 2015.[108]
Netflix Channel
The Netflix channel was released in the United States and Canada on October 18, 2010 and in the UK and Ireland on January 9, 2012.[109] This channel allowed Netflix subscribers to use that service's "Watch Instantly" movie streaming service over the Wii with their regular Netflix subscription fee, and replaced the previous Wii "streaming disc" mailed to Netflix customers with Wii consoles from March 27 to October 17, 2010 due to contractual limitations involving Xbox 360 exclusivity. The channel was free to download in the Wii Channels section of the Wii Shop Channel. The channel displayed roughly 12 unique categories of videos with exactly 75 video titles in each category. The TV category had many seasons of videos (i.e. 15–100 episodes) associated with each title. There were also categories for videos just watched, new releases, and videos recommended (based on the user's Netflix subscription history). On July 31, 2018, the channel was delisted from the Wii Shop Channel; Netflix would drop support for the Wii on January 30, 2019.[110]
LoveFilm Channel (UK and Germany only)
On 4 December 2012, the LoveFilm channel was available to download on Wii consoles in the UK and Germany; the channel was discontinued on 31 October 2017, along with the closure of LoveFilm itself.[111]
Kirby TV Channel (PAL regions only)
The Kirby TV Channel launched on June 23, 2011 in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and has since been discontinued. The channel allowed users to view episodes of the animated series Kirby: Right Back at Ya! for free.[112] This channel was succeeded by the Nintendo Anime Channel, a Nintendo 3DS video-on-demand app, available in Japan and Europe, which streamed curated anime or anime-inspired shows, such as Kirby: Right Back at Ya!
Hulu Plus Channel (USA only)
Hulu Plus Channel was a channel for Wii,[113] also as announced in Nintendo Updates on Nintendo Channel.[114] Hulu Plus Channel included classic shows and other Hulu included shows. The channel launched in 2012, and was only available in the United States. On January 30, 2019, Hulu dropped support for the Wii.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Save Data Update Channel
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Save Data Update Channel fixed an issue in the game The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.[115] This title was the only Wii game to ever receive a downloadable, self-patching service, wherein previous titles with technical issues, such as Metroid: Other M, required the game's owners experiencing said issues to send their Wii consoles to customer service where Nintendo had to manually fix such issues.
YouTube Channel
The YouTube channel allowed the user to view YouTube videos on the television screen and had the ability to sign into an existing YouTube account.[116] The YouTube channel, which became available without warning, is currently only available in the North American, UK, Japanese, and Australian versions of the Wii system,[117] with the North American release on November 15, 2012, only three days before the Wii U was released in North America. Google planned to gradually make the channel available on Wii in other countries besides the aforementioned regions.[118] The YouTube channel was initially categorized on the Wii Shop Channel as a "WiiWare" title by mistake, but this was later fixed when the Wii U Transfer Tool channel became available. On June 26, 2017, YouTube terminated legacy support for all devices that continue using the Flash-based YouTube app (typically found in most TV devices released before 2012), which includes the Wii.[119]
Wii U Transfer Tool Channel
This application became available on the Wii Shop Channel the day the
The Wii U Transfer Tool Channel features an animation based on the
The ability to transfer content from the Wii to the Wii U is still available for the foreseeable future after the Wii Shop Channel's shutdown on January 30, 2019.
Amazon Instant Video (USA only)
Crunchyroll
In late 2014, Crunchyroll released their video app for the Wii's successor, Wii U, in North America. However, believing there are still many actively connected Wii consoles in its twilight years, Crunchyroll had surprised users with a Crunchyroll channel for Wii as well, launching the app categorized under "WiiWare" on October 15, 2015 in North America and the PAL regions.[121] The Crunchyroll Wii channel currently only permits access to Premium account holders to the majority of the prime content.[citation needed] On May 5, 2017, less than 20 months after its launch, Crunchyroll ceased support for the Wii due to technical limitations after the service updated with new technology.[122]
Additional channels
This is a list of new Wii Channels released beyond the four initial Channels (i.e. Disc Channel, Mii Channel, Photo Channel and Wii Shop Channel) included in the original consoles. The News Channel and the Forecast Channel were released as part of system updates so separate downloads were not required. As of January 30, 2019, all channels listed below have been discontinued with the exception of the Wii Fit Channel and the Internet Channel.
New channels added | Regions | Download | Released | Discontinued | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Amazon Instant Video Channel
|
January 17, 2013 | January 30, 2019 | [123][124][125] | ||
BBC iPlayer Channel | November 18, 2009 | February 10, 2015 | [126][127][128] | ||
Check Mii Out Channel | November 12, 2007 | June 28, 2013 | |||
Crunchyroll Channel | October 15, 2015 | May 5, 2017 | [129] | ||
Jam with the Band: Live Channel | June 26, 2008 | Permanent channel | |||
Demae Channel | May 26, 2009 | March 31, 2017 | |||
Digicam Print Channel | July 23, 2008 | June 28, 2013 | |||
Everybody Votes Channel[130] | February 13, 2007 | June 28, 2013 | |||
Forecast Channel | December 19, 2006 | June 28, 2013 | |||
Hulu Plus Channel | February 16, 2012 | January 30, 2019 | [131][132] | ||
Internet Channel[133] | April 11, 2007 | Permanent channel | |||
Mario Kart Channel | April 10, 2008 - April 27, 2008 | Reduced functionality after May 20, 2014 | |||
Metroid Prime 3 Preview Channel | August 10, 2007 | 2008 | |||
Netflix Channel | October 18, 2010 - January 9, 2012 | January 30, 2019 | [134][135][136] | ||
News Channel | January 26, 2007 | June 28, 2013 | |||
Nintendo Channel | November 27, 2007 - May 30, 2008 | June 28, 2013 | |||
Television Friend Channel
|
March 4, 2008 | July 24, 2011 | |||
Today and Tomorrow Channel | December 2, 2008 - September 9, 2009 | Permanent channel, no longer obtainable | |||
Wii Fit Channel | (except ) | December 1, 2007 - May 21, 2008 | Permanent channel | ||
Wii no Ma | May 1, 2009 | April 30, 2012 | |||
Wii Speak Channel | December 5, 2008 | May 20, 2014 | |||
YouTube Channel | November 15, 2012 - December 10, 2012 | June 30, 2017 |
SD Card Menu
The SD Card Menu is a feature made available with the release of Wii Menu version 4.0. This menu allows the user to run Virtual Console games, WiiWare games, and Wii Channels directly from the SD card, which makes it possible to free up the Wii's internal memory. Applications can be downloaded to the SD card directly from the Wii Shop Channel as well.
When running an application from the SD Card Menu, it is temporarily copied to the internal memory of the Wii, meaning the internal memory still must contain an amount of free blocks equal to the application's size. If the internal memory does not have enough space, the Channel will run an "Automanager" program, which clears up space for the user in one of many ways (selectable by the user).
The manager can place the largest channels on the user's Wii in the SD card, put smaller channels on the SD card until enough space remains to run the channel, clear channels from the left side of the Wii menu to the right side, or from the right side to the left until there are enough blocks to run the channel.[137]
System updates and Parental Controls
The Wii is capable of downloading updates to its core operating software. These updates may include additional features, patches/fixes, or support for newly released channels. When an update becomes available, Nintendo notifies users by sending a message to their console. Updates are included with certain Wii games, both requiring one to be fully updated in order to play and providing the update should one lack the necessary internet connection.
The Wii Menu also featured Parental Controls to restrict access to certain operations.
See also
Other gaming platforms from Nintendo:
- Nintendo 3DS system software
- Nintendo DSi system software
- Wii U system software
- Nintendo Switch system software
Other gaming platforms from the next generation:
- PlayStation 4 system software
- PlayStation Vita system software
- Xbox One system software
Other gaming platforms from this generation:
- PlayStation 3 system software
- PlayStation Portable system software
- Xbox 360 system software
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